In the words of that great Italian-American philosopher Jimmy Valvano:
“If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special.“
This is a grab bag of recent experiences that moved me to laugh, think, or cry.
Who knew a four-hour movie could be so riveting?
Candice and I recently saw the documentary Menus-Plaisirs – Les Troisgros at Silver Spring’s AFI Silver Theatre. At its most basic, this is a film where 93-year-old director Frederick Wiseman embeds himself and his team inside a French restaurant that’s held three Michelin stars for more than 50 years. But that doesn’t do it justice. This four-hour film was a remarkable work of art and storytelling in so many ways. We simply were mesmerized and in truth didn’t want it to end.
The love that goes into the film and the food can’t truly be captured in a trailer, but there are good reviews online (see here and here) to give other perspectives. The movie touched a variety of emotions and I’ve thought about it every day since first seeing it early in December. There is a poignancy in watching the father in the process of turning over the family business to his sons and daughter that unfolds slowly yet consistently over the body of the film. The meditations of Menus-Plaisirs around what matters — a devotion to craft, the beauty of nature, the love of food, and familial bonds — touched me deeply in places too little explored in everyday life.
Watch this movie if you get a chance.
Joke #1
The Gospel reading on the first Sunday after Christmas was from the famous first chapter of John. Shortly after church the following showed up in my email inbox:
Q. How do we know that God is a baseball fan?
A: ‘Cause he wrote “In the big inning . . .”
H/T to my friends Ted for the joke and George who quickly responded, “At last, all is made clear . . . “
Memories
Shortly after Andrew and Claire were born we (well, mostly Candice) began putting programs, school art projects, birthday cards, photographs, and much more into a “memory box” for each one. On the recent night before Claire headed home to California, we began to weed through the now 10 memory boxes (five apiece) to see what they wanted to keep. This was our first baby steps in a much-delayed house cleansing to get ready for whatever the next stage brings.
Andrew began reading from his pre-school and kindergarten “report cards” (you’ll have to ask them about which one was better at clean-up), while Claire read the stories from the journals she wrote in kindergarten and first grade. We laughed over the number of times her “what I did this weekend” entry began with “we went house-hunting.” I teared up when Claire brought out her art project: a handmade birthday “card” to the “greatest dad on earth” — complete with a drawing of me sitting on a globe.
Amidst the chatter and excitement, I sat back and thought about all the stories we were uncovering in a whole new time and space. What a beautiful experience together.
Joke #2
Mike Luckovich’s great take on Nikki “I don’t know ‘nothing about slavery” Haley works perfectly when one thinks of this vintage TV sketch. One online wag suggested that after this episode, Haley’s no longer measuring the drapery in the White House! (I’ll stop there.)
Speaking of good food . . .
The Washington region has only one three-star Michelin restaurant, but it has a number of excellent establishments that have become family favorites. Over the past month, I’ve enjoyed the simple yet satisfying bistro experience at La Piquette, a masterful Feast of Seven Fishes at Iron Gate, and a delayed birthday celebration at Cranes. Each touched my emotions in different ways.
Francis Layrle, the long-time chef at the French embassy, never disappoints when in the kitchen at La Piquette. And yes, the Trout Meunière Arc-en-ciel is just sublime.
Coming from a family with strong Italian roots, Candice is always on the lookout for a good Feast of Seven Fishes experience for Christmas Eve. Claire joined us this year, when we may have just established a new family tradition.
Chef Anthony Chittum, a native of Maryland’s Eastern Shore, and his team at the Iron Gate Restaurant in the Dupont Circle neighborhood created an artistic and delightful Feast of Seven Fishes with a few twists. * The offerings were both traditional and adventurous, yet they all satisfied.
Finally, Cranes — a Michelin-rated restaurant in DC — was the setting for our annual birthday dinner with the twins. Everyone helped choose our shared plates, which we then enjoyed over good wine, laughter, memories, and thoughtful discussions about past, present, and future.
Joke #3
We need more people to experience this epiphany.
Words of Wisdom
The New York Times had a fun piece in late December entitled The Best Advice I Received This Year. Some of my favorites included:
Nothing good is happening on your phone past 8 p.m.
Miriam Lichtenberg
Before doing something, ask yourself, “Is this something that someone who loves themselves would do?”
Cathy de la Cruz
And this gem:
We are all juggling so many balls. Differentiate between glass balls and rubber balls — and don’t be afraid to drop the rubber balls.
Kathryn Cunningham
Hope, faith, and love
I’ll leave you with this quote from Dr. Reinhold Niebuhr’s The Irony of American History as food for thought.
Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in a lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone. Therefore we must be saved by love.
May you laugh, think, and cry every day, for the rest of your life . . . preferably over a good meal.
More to come . . .
DJB
*Menu for the Feast of Seven Fishes:
Photo: Luisa Brimble on Unsplash
MORE TO COME... 
Thanks David. Fond memories of Iron Gate Inn going back fifty years when the cuisine was Lebanese. It was our infant daughter’s first outing and she managed to roll off the elegant wooden booth seat horrifying her parents and attentive staff. All ended well including twin granddaughters who just visited over the holidays from Kansas. We will have to try the Feast of Seven Fishes next year. Good seafood remain’s my daughter’s favorite from her East Coast years.
Thanks for calling up the memories. I didn’t know about the Iron Gate’s Lebanese phase. I first found the restaurant about 1997 when I came to Washington to work in the Dupont Circle neighborhood. It was always a bit of a hidden gem, but the most recent remake by Tony Chittum and the Neighborhood Restaurant Group has been the best iteration I’ve seen in my quarter-century of eating there. As you can see, we thought their Feast of Seven Fishes was wonderful!
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